Miniseries - How to speak such that people want to listen
Or how to write such that people want to read
Hello Reader,
As I might have mentioned in my earlier emails, a speech/writing has two aspects - a) How good is the content, and b) How well it is delivered.
This email will tackle the latter part.
Cause no matter how good your content, nobody would care to listen if your delivery sucks. Think Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory. More often than not, he’s right about stuff… that’s his whole thing, that he knows. Even so, it’s an absolute displeasure to hear him speak… the arrogant tone, the unnecessarily big words and complicated sentence structures. Personally, I can't bear him for five minutes.
On the other hand, consider Tyrion from Game of Thrones. Also really, really smart. And not just in a bookish way, but in the practicalities of life too. And it’s a treat to hear him speak (up to season 4 anyway, after which it all went to hell).
I imagine you would want to sound like Tyrion more than Sheldon. And that is why learning what makes a good delivery would be useful.
Now, delivery can be broken into three aspects -
- Style
- Arrangement of Ideas
- Cadence
This email, the first part of a three email mini-series, is about Style.
Style is like the cover of a book… we’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but we do. So the cover better be good, eh?
There is one central idea behind this - that your speech be clear, distinguished, and unobtrusive.
Clear, as in it should be clear to the audience what you’re trying to convey. If the point of communication is understanding one another better, we are flashily missing the point if we’re complicating our speech to dazzle our audience. In most cases that is. In some cases we may need to deliberately confuse the audience with our words… in that case too, the actual communication is clear - I’m the expert, you’re the noob. Put your blind faith in me.
Metaphors are a great tool for enhancing clarity. Cause they help you drive home a novel idea on the shoulders of something already familiar to the audience. They help you make your audience see or feel something as you do, transcending the limits of basic verbal communication.
Some tips for using metaphors effectively -
Use Familiar Metaphors
Avoid obscure or overly poetic metaphors. Instead, pull from everyday experiences your audience understands.
Example:
Instead of saying:
“The memory cache is like the sacred temple of ephemera…”
Try:
“The memory cache is like a desk drawer—it keeps what you need within reach.”
Don’t Overdo Them
One great metaphor per idea is enough. Don’t mix too many or over-layer them.
Example:
“Trying to scale that system was like pouring water into a paper bag.”
Sharp. One metaphor. No need to follow it with three more.
Match the Sound of the Metaphor to the Tone of the Speech
Metaphors have texture and tone—don’t use soft or playful ones for serious or violent ideas.
Example:
If describing a brittle system failing under stress:
Weak metaphor: “It crumbled like a cookie.”
Stronger metaphor: “It splintered like glass under a hammer.”
The second sounds like what it means—there’s power in that alignment.
This way of usage enhances clarity, and adds charm to your delivery.
What destroys clarity?
Using big words that your audience doesn’t understand (Side-eyeing Dr. Shashi Tharoor). Plus saying simple things in such a convoluted, long-winded form that your audience can’t process it. Like a lot of startup pitches go-
“We’re building a paradigm-shifting architecture that will redefine the boundaries of scalability.”
“W H A T?”
“We’re building a new architecture that allows our system to scale more efficiently and handle far greater loads than before.”
“Then say that to begin with!”
Simplicity and brevity go a long way. As Winston Churchill once said -
Now for a distinguished vibe -
What gives a speech (or writing) an aura of distinction is just a tinge of unfamiliarity... For people are struck by what they find uncommon. Thus, use words that are just a level above in complexity and usage (or just a bit different), but sparsely.
You definitely don’t wanna spam such words… or you compromise on clarity + sound pretentious (terrible for ethos).
A good example -
Notice the usage of the word “sustain” instead of something commonplace like “keep going”, “noble pursuits” instead of “important things”. Not complicated. Quite understandable...but just a bit elevated.
The third and last trait - Unobtrusiveness: Under the radar.
The speech should not draw attention in an obvious way. This would happen if you try too hard to add distinction. For example, talking like a 20th century British gentleman in today’s age would draw attention for all the wrong reasons, and it would detract from your speech.
Consider these lines from Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray -
“Experience is merely the name men give to their mistakes.”
Sounds like something carved into a marble, rather than remarked at a Tuesday lunch. Makes you look like a try-hard (trust me, I know), and is a charm-killer.
These then, are the elements of good style. Employing these in your speech (or writing), would ensure that it is aesthetically pleasing to the ears, as well as understandable… which are both crucial when you’re trying to get someone to do something, or think in a certain way.
Next mail? Arrangement of ideas - How to arrange them so as to deliver the most impact.
As we take care of the arrangement of our three-course meal: Appetizer, main-course, dessert…, so too we must take care of the arrangement of ideas in our speech, or it might all fall flat.
So, keep an eye out for the next issue.
Until next time,
Ayush
